The latest research from Mercury Research shows that, as the world recovered from the pandemic, the PC industry experienced its biggest decline in Q3 compared to Q2 related to laptop CPU sales.
According to PCMag, the drop occurred as laptop CPU sales fell by more than 18 million units compared to the second quarter. The drop stemmed from demand for low-cost laptop CPUs, such as microprocessors. Intel Celeron and AMD Athlon processors fell more than 50% compared to Q2.
Mercury Research President Dean McCarron called the drop “the worst quarterly downturn for mobile CPUs in the history of the PC processor market.” However, McCarron said the low sales of low-cost CPUs were not related to chip shortages but rather stemmed from demand for low-cost laptops like the inferior Google Chromebook.
Covid-19 and demand for distance learning sent sales of Chromebooks and other laptops skyrocketing last year, sending PC shipments to a high not seen in a decade. Mercury Research data shows that low-cost laptop CPUs grew by an average of more than 180% year-over-year each quarter from Q4 2020 to Q2 2021. But as the pandemic is gradually brought under control, demand for products has declined, while CPU demand for desktops, servers, and IoT devices remains strong.
It is known that in addition to Mercury Research, other research companies such as Canalys also report that demand for Chromebooks has plummeted in recent months.
Due to the decline in low-cost CPU production, McCarron added, the average selling price of CPUs in the market has increased the most quarter-on-quarter in the past 23 years, with the average price now being $168, up from $151 compared to the previous year. same period last year.